One Star

Monday, June 24, 2019

It may have been more appropriate to call this drinking with a demon…we ate
food, mostly after hanging out with the demon. But the demon was only
interested in the booze. You know, you bring someone out for a nice evening and
then you realize in the end they only want one thing…I guess that’s just how it
goes.

Anyway.
This ritual was an interesting experience, leading up to it, during, and after.
The original ritual, the one in which we originally bound the demon, was cool
too. But it had less of a lead up, probably because we didn’t have a
relationship with the demon being called beforehand, whereas this time we had
two years of work with the spirit who was literally taking center chair.

When
we did the original ritual I had spent weeks prepping. Making the incenses, the
paint, collecting and consecrating tools, preparing myself. Building the space
for the experience and drawing together the forces to create it. Again, nothing
too interesting happened as part of that process though, at least nothing that
jumps to mind two years later.

During
the ritual itself we had a couple pretty cool moments though. Particularly,
visions the scryer had of the spirit responding to things I was doing of which
she was unaware, and then multiple people having visions of the same spirit.
Several other people came up and told me that they had interesting experiences
communing with the spirit. Part of me has always kind of wondered about people
individually communing with a spirit simultaneously. In most smaller group
rituals I’ve run people take turns interacting with the spirit or interact
through a central person. I never really heard what people got out of the
ritual in this case. But again, since multiple people had the same vision of
the spirit maybe the spirit can talk with more than one person at a time. It
makes sense from certain angles.

This
ritual was different from that though.

This
time we were calling on a spirit with whom we have a very involved
relationship. He is housed prominently in our lodge space with his own altar.
His altar receives decorations and gifts during parties. He’s fed according to
his contract every event and sometimes more often than that. He has a close
relationship with his two primary caretakers. He has been involved with one of
them previously in possession work during a spirit fete hosted by a guest
organization. So the spirit is pretty closely tied to us, and in particularly
closely tied with the woman who would be his vessel.

The
things that happened before we called the demon were pretty minor.
Coincidences, synchronicities. Maybe they were nothing. Maybe they were the
demon poking at things.

With
this ritual I did not do weeks of preparation. I barely had time to put the
ritual together. I had hoped to. But it just wasn’t the time. Everything seemed
to lead me away from preparation, so I ended up running around just before the
ritual frantically grabbing things…but then also realizing…I needed a lot less
for this.

One
of the things I needed was perfume. While prepping the ritual the thought
entered my head that this wasn’t a Holy Water ritual. It should be sensual.
Perfumes and colognes should replace the Holy Water. Robes should be replaced,
for most people, by freedom to dress or undress as they so desired. It should
be an opportunity to, as certain goats say, live deliciously.

I
did not want to bring the Old Spice I had at home. I wanted new cologne. So I
went to the store and discovered all the perfumes and colognes were locked
up…except…for the Old Spice. It was the day before Fathers’ Day and they did
not even have colognes in the Fathers’ Day aisle. I only had a few minutes and
there were no sales people. I was stuck with Old Spice. It was weird because
the Old Spice was about $8 and some of the locked-up colognes went as low as
$4. There was no logic.

When
I got to the Lodge somehow the Old Spice ended up on the table in the meeting
room, all my other supplies were still in the single box I carried into the
temple. When I happened into the meeting room our Vessel was questioning why it
was there and if someone was pranking her. When I explained what it was and how
we ended up with it, she explained that her father generally smelled of Old
Spice and Deet. She’d been outside at an event all day and was covered in Deet
and now I’d be baptizing her in Old Spice. Due to past trauma she has no
contact with her father or other members of her family. Based on some other
conversation and interaction with the spirit this was taken potentially as a
prank at his arranging and it was determined to stick with the plan rather than
adjust.

Almost
immediately after this, the Lodge’s Abramelin oil was found to be missing. So
we had to switch the anointing oil to High John the Conquerer, which honestly
seemed more appropriate for reconfirming the demon. High John has associations with
blues and blues musicians are children of the devil – their own words not mine.
The magic associated with High John has more connection to figures like the
crossroads devil, than the temple and angelic associations of the Abramelin
Oil.

There
was also some strange luck with the floor circles in which I was confused about
which King I was calling. Each spirit we called had a circle drawn on the floor
placed based upon its role or nature. After drawing the circles on the floor
based on my mistake…it turned out the circle was accidentally in place for the
correct King, before I realized I needed to correct which King. It also
improved the position for the Ancestors. The fortuitousness ended there as I
looked up the wrong seal, but it worked out.

At
least a few days before these things happened, it seems that another spirit may
have helped organize one of the gifts given to the lodge’s familiar. The lodge
recently did a ritual to the Witches’ Devil which resulted in people being
given familiars. There were some physical signs around the demon’s altar that
this ritual happening excited him. One of the main caretakers for our demon
explained how his familiar wanted to get a particular item as an offering, when
it didn’t work out his familiar told him not to worry about it that he’d taken
care of it otherwise. Someone else ended up attending, and this hard to find
item was the gift he gave. Apparently it arrived the same day he had been drawn
to a bunch of items which related to the caretaker’s familiar. This person was
previously unaware of the other familiars.

Like
I said, small stuff. Maybe nothing, maybe something. I’m being a little vague
on the gift one, which is unfortunate because of the small things it’s the most
interesting.

When
we conjured the demon there were two elements to the final conjuration. One was
me using names from the Hygromanteia to open the Vessel while she used a
modified conjuration from the PGM. The two ended up fitting perfectly, the last
word of each ending at the same moment. When the connection between the Demon
and the Vessel solidified he announced his presence by shooting back a full goblet
of whiskey. This kind of kicked off the rest of the process. Which was largely
drinking…a lot.

The
Vessel isn’t a fan of bourbon, and is allergic to wormwood. In the span of
about 40 minutes or so she did “shots” but those shots were full goblets of
whiskey and some absinthe. There were probably fifteen or so of these. During
the ritual it wasn’t striking the insane amount of alcohol she consumed but
later on it dawned on me. She remained lucid, coherent, stable, completely
unaffected for about two hours until the possession ended. When it wrapped up
there were two intense rounds of projectile vomiting of massive amounts of dark
vomit. Significantly more than seemed reasonable. I’ve done heavy alcohol
rituals with this woman before with no vomiting and I’ve seen her drunk on a
lot less. Honestly, she probably shouldn’t have been standing by the end of the
ritual let alone the time after the ritual. Once we wrapped up the spirit
continued to speak to people privately through her. She requested an agreement
with the spirit beforehand that he not indulge so much that she wouldn’t be
able to function at an outdoor event the next day. The next day she was
completely fine and able to function.

A
few days later we spoke about the experience, and she explained she had no
memory of anything after the point where we were doing the prayers together
until the point where she was laying on a couch after vomiting. Not in a black
out drunk kind of way. Her awareness ended before that started.

While
the spirit was interacting with people, standing a few feet away from him was
like standing in waves of sickening fire. But when the spirit was excited and
focused on talking with someone the fire focused in and relented. His aura
would then reextend with its waves of discomfort when he became less focused
again. It was kind of an interesting experience. I was glad for the assistance
of the Benedictine Rosary consecrated to Hekate, Mary, and the Dead which I was
wearing.

The
spirit also went on a long speech about why he was sent to us, and the work
we’d been doing. In doing so he began answering questions I debated asking but
had elected not to and hadn’t discussed with anyone. He touched on themes that
had come up in dreams and spirit experiences since I was a child, which I
hadn’t discussed with the lodge members. He even used descriptions that matched
how I understood certain spiritual powers and which related to some of my more
private magical work. Some of the description even touched on key words that
overlapped both an important dream from my 20s and an unpublished translation
of a medieval text I did a couple years ago.

All
in all the ritual seemed a success. I’d never worked with instigating a
possession before. The ritual was definitely more demoniacal than was the norm
for me, and to some degree as we prepared for it that stood out more than it
did when just reading it. My understanding is that at least one participant had
a pretty intense experience of one of the powers which were invoked to prepare
the ritual. I would definitely try it again. It was a useful and workable way
for interacting with the spirit. For the most part nothing material was asked
for outside of the spirit’s normal work. If anyone tries a varied version of
this with other spirits I’d love to hear how your results go, especially
practical ones.

Friday, June 21, 2019

In 2017 I was asked to put together a
ritual for William Blake Lodge, OTO’s 25th anniversary party. My
blog doesn’t usually deal with Thelema or the OTO too often, I talk a lot more
about more traditional magic. One of the nice things at WBL is we have a lot of
people interested in exploring traditional magic. Those of you who know me
probably also know that I like to help spread that interest where I can. So
when I was given the opportunity to give the ritual which would cap the night
for the celebration, which would have a bunch of people attending, I knew I
needed to do something which brought together the OTO’s system with traditional
spirit magic.

I used Jake Stratton-Kent’s _Goetic Liturgy_ as my inspiration but instead of combining a grimoire with an A.’.A.’.
ritual, I found ways to connect with the OTO and the EGC while building a
ritual that drew on _The Cambridge Book of Magic_, _The Heptameron_ and _Discouerie of Witchcraft_. This post isn’t about that ritual though. We conjured a demon
from the Book of the Offices of Spirits and requested from it a familiar
spirit. We bound that spirit to an animal skull in a jar using iron nails,
blood based paint, herbs incense soil and more. The familiar spirit was charged
with aiding the Lodge.

Most Lodge members, even some who
surprised me in doing so, seem to have recognized the positive effect the
familiar has had since 2017. We had some rough stuff going on just prior to
that, but things have turned around and improved and people are happy. A lot of
that has to do with our Lodge Master, in my opinion, but the effects of the
spirit are definitely there too. Additionally
there has been a really great magical environment in general. I recommend that
other OTO bodies and occult lodges may want to consider binding a familiar in a
manner which ties it into their current.

Since people have been happy with the
spirit’s work we decided to celebrate the spirit’s “birthday.” While the ritual
to conjure it was a fairly formal, in a circle, wearing lamens, participants doused
in Holy Water sort of conjuration…this was something else. We wanted something
more witchcrafty, more diablerist. Not demonalatrous but comfortable for a
demon. Something “The Other Magicians” would have done. We called upon the same
spirits and powers that we invoked when binding the spirit, but in more simple
fashions. Instead of a circle we drew their symbols on the floor in flour and
made offerings to them while singing their prayers.

We gave people wine, anointed them in
perfume, invited them to chant and dance and drink, and we offered a beautiful woman
in a diaphanous white night dress as a vessel for the demon to possess. She sat
enthroned on the seals arrayed as portals for the spirits. We sang and poured
out offerings on the floor. We called names from the Hygromanteia and used
prayers from the PGM, and the demon came.

In this post I will share the ritual we
used for the celebration. The script is the formal part. But the space should
be open for the people to sign, dance, chant, drink, enjoy themselves like a
sabbat. It’s hard to get that to happen though without a few people who are
used to engaging that energy and living it. The scripted part should be a celebration, it
should be solemn but engaging, the Gatekeeper and the Priest need to fully
embody the space of the work they’re doing. The Vessel needs to be open, and
preferably to have a relationship with the spirit.

In the next post I’ll talk a little about
the experience, things that happened surrounding the ritual.

Vessel – A Medium for the Demon. Is dressed in something
alluring, preferably white

Gatekeeper
– A Priest or Priestess of Hekate to facilitate in the Crossroads. The
Gatekeeper is armed with a dagger.

Drummers – Drum to raise the people to a state of
activity and to call up the spirits

Tools

Dagger

Candle

Wine Glass

Red Cloth

Silver Coin

Grape Wood Wand

Incense

Five Incense burners

Two
Coins

Temple

The temple is mostly
empty. There is plenty of space for people to move around and dance and celebrate.
On one side is a table for gifts and offerings, on the other is a table for
drinks. At the apex of the temple is a pillar or stand of some sort, before it
is a throne and before that an altar. Incense is set burning on the altar and
on the four quarters of the room. A candle and a wine glass are set on the
altar along with the spirit’s house. Outside of the temple is a table of perfumes
and oils, and a selection of alcoholic beverages and glasses.

Pre-Ritual

The
Priest draws the Ponto for Hekate and for the Ancestors and
the Seal for the King, for the Angel and for the Demon so that they are
surrounding the more largely drawn seal for the spirit. The Pillar, Throne and
Altar will sit on top of the seal for the spirit. The Gatekeeper censes the temple making a four armed
crossroads in each quarter and across the temple floor then returns the incense
to the altar. The Priest and Gatekeeper
leave the temple. They return with the
Vessel. The Priest carries
the wine glass, the Vessel
following after him carries the spirit house, the Gatekeeper follows the Vessel and carries the candle
which has been lit. They form a triangle around the altar. The Priest places the glass on the altar, he takes the
candle from the Gatekeeper
and places it on the altar, then he takes the spirit house and places it on the
pedestal. He retrieves the alcohol which will be offered to the spirit and puts
a small amount in the wine glass. The
Priest takes the glass and goes to each quarter and sprinkles he then
returns to the altar and sprinkles there before returning the glass. As he does
this the Gatekeeper seats the Vessel on the throne. When
this is completed the Gatekeeper
admits the drummers who begin to play. Once they have begun the Gatekeeper admits the people
one at a time.

**Ceremony of Admission**

Rather than purification
those attending may anoint themselves with oils or perfumes, they may strip out
of undesired clothing or change into clothing more fitting for the celebration.

As they approach the
doorway they should take a drink and bring their glass into the temple.

At the doorway they are
stopped by the Gatekeeper with
his dagger

Gatekeeper:Why
do you approach this sacred and secret place?

Congregant:To go
under cover of night, away from the village, to celebrate with devils and
demons, faeries and angels the deeds of the demon.

Gatekeeper:
[removes dagger, and admits the congregant] Welcome

Ritual

**Hekate**

The
Gatekeeper begins by lighting the incense and
circles over the circles with it. He then places two coins on the ground.

Priest:Charon accept this payment,
and bring forth those who came before us that they may partake of this offering
and share in it with you, and with those gods Hades, Persephone, Demeter,
Dionysos, Iris and Hekate!

The
Gatekeeper begins chanting names and epithets for Hekate.
The congregation joins in. This continues throughout the conjuration of each of
the spiritual forces. Throughout this the people may drink and dance.

The
Gatekeeper continues chanting names and goes to the
Ponto for Hekate. He lights the candles and blows incense over it. He pours oil
over it and makes an offering of alcohol and of blood. While this is done the Priest sings the Hymn for
Hekate.

Priest:I call Einodian Hecate,
lovely dame,

Of earthly, watery, and
celestial frame,

Sepulchral, in a saffron
veil arrayed,

Leased with dark ghosts that
wander through the shade;

Persian, unconquerable
huntress hail!

The world's key-bearer never
doomed to fail;

On the rough rock to wander
thee delights,

Leader and nurse be present
to our rites

Propitious grant our just
desires success,

Accept our homage, and the incense bless.

**Ancestors**

The
Gatekeeper continues chanting the names but moves to
the Ponto for the Ancestors and repeats the process of opening it while the Priest prays:

Priest:Lord of Life and Joy, that
art the might of man, that art the essence of every true god that is upon the
surface of the Earth, continuing knowledge from generation unto generation,
thou adored of us upon heaths and in woods, on mountains and in caves, openly
in the marketplaces and secretly in the chambers of our houses, in temples of
gold and ivory and marble as in these other temples of our bodies, we worthily
commemorate them worthy that did of old adore thee and manifest they glory unto
men

**Angel**

The
Gatekeeper moves to the Seal of Cassiel and begins
to open it as the Priest
prays:

Priest:Hear me you Angels, Michael,
Raphael, Uriel and Gabriel, be my aid in these petitions and my aid in all my
affairs!

In the Name of the Most High
God, in the Name of the Lord of Hosts, I conjure and confirm upon you, Cassiel,
Machator, and Seraquiel, strong and powerful angels by the Name Adonai Tzaveot,
that you will attend this celebration, I adjure you by my appeal to the throne
of the Lord, By the Holy and Mighty God who is our Aid Against Death, He who is
the Beginning and the End through his three secret names AGLA, ON, YHVH, by
which you will fulfill today those things which I desire. I conjure upon you,
Cassiel, who is chief ruler of the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, that you
will attend us and aid us in this celebration.

**King**

The
Gatekeeper moves to the Seal of Egyn and begins to
open it as the Priest prays:

Priest:Oh great and potent spirit
Egyn, King of the North, who rules the Northern region of the world, I adjure
you, I call upon you, and most powerfully and earnestly I urge you by, in, and
through the virtue power and might of these efficacious and binding names,
YHVH+, EHIH+, Adonai+, AGLA+, El+, Tzvot+, Elohim+, of the Almighty, Immense Incomprehensible
and Everliving God, the omnipotent Creator of heaven and Earth. I

call upon you, Oh you
powerful and regal spirit Egyn, by the power of Elohim+ in the presence of Gabriel+
to attend us, in all mildness, peace, and friendliness, without any hurt,
disturbance, or any other evil whatsoever, either to us, or this place. Mighty
Egyn courteously and obediently you fulfill our desire and be present for this
celebration, Oh Royal and Potent spirit Egyn, in the name of Shaddai+

**Demon**

The
Gatekeeper moves to the Seal of Doolas and begins to
open it as the Priest prays:

Priest:By the
might of the Angel Cassiel, by the name of the Most High God, Lord of Hosts,
Adonai Tzaveot, by the might of the King Egyn, by the hand of his emissary Lambricon,
we ask that Doolas be brought forth. By the pact we have made before, and by
the swift work of Lambricon we invite Doolas to enter herein, to join in this
celebration and to reaffirm the bonds which bind Tobias to us.

**Spirit**

Praising
the Spirit

The
Priest raises the jar from the pedestal and carries it
around the Temple before the people. He extemporaneously thanks and praises the
work of the spirit. When he is done he will shout “Hail Tobias!” and the Vessel will repeat this and
encourage the people to switch to chanting for Tobias. The Gatekeeper continue chanting or meditating upon Hekate
and opening the door ways and roads.

The
Priest brings the jar back to the altar and places it there
with the candle the incense and the wine glass. He pours a libation into the
glass, whiskey or absinthe or wine. He places incense onto the coal.

Priest:Tobias
we give you these offerings of thanks and invite your presence here.

Anointing
the Jar

The
Priest takes perfume and anoints the rim of the jar

Priest:We
recall your baptism

The
Priest takes oil and anoints the rim of the jar

Priest:
We
recall your confirmation to our purpose

The
Priest takes blood and anoints the rim of the jar and also
retraces the seals on the jar

Priest:With
this blood we strengthen you and we strengthen the bonds which tie you to us

Washing
and crowning the Vessel

The
Priest takes perfumed water and pours it over the head of
the Vessel as is baptizing her:

Priest:May
you be made open and ready to receive the spirit

The
Priest takes oil and anoints the forehead and the crown of the Vessel’s head.

Priest:
May
the fires of the spirit stir within you

The
Priest takes the blood and anoints the forehead and the crown
of the Vessel’s head.

Priest:May
the blood which binds him to us be a bond between him and you.

The
Priest lays the red cloth over the crown of her head and
places his hands upon the cloth, standing behind her.

Calling
the Spirit

While the Vessel calls upon Tobias the
people continue chanting his name. The
Priest keeps his head upon the cloth and chants these names.

The Vessel looks at the jar. In one hand she
holds the grape wood. The other hand touches the jar.

Vessel:Hail serpent and stout lion,
natural sources of fire

Hail
clear water and lofty-leafed tree

And
you who gather up clover from golden fields of beans

And
who cause gentle foam to gush forth from pure mouths.

Scarab
who drive the orb of fertile fire, O self-engendered one

Because
you are Two-syllabled, AE, and are the first appearing one

Nod
me assent I pray, because your mystic symbols I declare,

EO
AI OY AMERR OOUOTH IYIOE MARMARAUOTH LAILAM SOUMARTA

Be
gracious unto me first-father and May you yourself send strength as my
companion.

I
conjure you holy light, holy brightness, by the wholy names which I have spoken
and am now going to speak. By IAO SABAOTH ARBATHIAO SESENGENBARPHARAGGES
ABLANATHANALBA ALRAMMACHAMARI AI AI IAO AX AX INAX remain by me in this present
hour, until, I pray to the god, and learn about the things I desire.

At
this point the Vessel makes
an extemporaneous prayer to Tobias to come to her and be known through her. It
is best that this is an affectionate plea for contact and co-agency. She
continues this and the chanting continues until she feels the spirit with her
or until the spirit makes it self known though communion with her.

Gifts
and Oracles

The ritual continues as a
party. People take turns coming up and making offerings to the spirit and
asking for his blessing for themselves and for the Lodge. The spirit may
provide oracles or general or specific blessings as it desires or not if it
does not desire so.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

So I’ve been pretty far behind on posting. Busy with my new
writing project _Unto the Angel_ my book on the Holy Guardian Angel…along with
regular work, and fencing. One of the things in particular I’ve wanted to do
recently is review some really cool stuff which has come out from some people
who are pretty cool. The first one I’m going to present is, sort of, but maybe
not entirely, the newest.

Alison Chicosky has been making a stir for a few years in
terms of inspiring people to work with PGM and to explore, in particular, the
Stele of Jeu. She has done some pretty amazing stuff with simple magical
techniques and has helped others do the same by directing them to Rufus Opus’s
_Seven Spheres_ and the PGM materials, the two of which have become the source
of her go to methods, at least as far as I understand.

I’ve
heard some pretty amazing stories about people saved by the phylacteries she’s
made and gifted to them. And by saved, in some cases I mean literally their
lives have been saved. Her construction of magical objects has spread out beyond
the phylacteries into a huge array of planetary talismans. She has been sharing
these talismans with people and they’ve been getting great results. Myself
included.

A
few months back I was in my car and suddenly the world was a kaleidoscope. My
eyes were no longer seeing the same thing and I was driving through a world wind
of blurred images. A couple days of tests showed that I was pretty healthy…surprisingly
so, but that due to a nerve issue one of my eyes wasn’t moving so I had extreme
double vision. This resulted in a couple months in an eye patch.

Alison
was the first person I reached out to for help. She sent me a talisman. Once it
was delivered, even before I had it in my possession, I could feel its
influence in my orbit. When I first held it I could feel the difference in
presence it had, and when I interacted with it I had strong and clear
instructions from the spirits associated therewith.

My
doctors told me to basically keep things easy going and eventually the eye
would heal, but it might take months. I found a surprising number of people who
had had similar issues or knew people who had similar issues. Most of the
people I encountered initially told me about how they, or they people they
knew, never got better. It was a little frightening. The doctors made it sound
simple to the point of being unrealistic and brushed off a need for me to keep
seeing them. They gave me no real instruction or treatment. Once the talisman
was in my possession I started getting more and more people telling me about
people who had the same problem and it got better. All of them needed to see
specialists and do special exercises or wear special corrective items, but they
got better. I went in for my first, and only, follow up and the doctor was
clearly surprised by how much progress my eye had made in a short time. I
finally had hope that I was sure wasn’t just me convincing myself that I might
get better.

Now,
my eye works correctly and I’m without the eye patch. It took some time. The
talisman didn’t miraculously instantly heal me. But there was a definite shift.
Some of the underlying issues eased up once I had it. I stumbled onto some
unlikely assistance a few times. I recovered with pretty much no medical
treatment past the diagnosis. The world that seemed to be preparing me for the
worst turned into a world reminding me that it would work out. That was probably
a huge factor in my eye getting better at all.

I
accept that my recovery was in part due to rest and other things done to improve
my condition, but I also believe that the talisman turned around important
elements of the situation and helped guide me towards the possibility of
recovering, which didn’t seem there at first.

That
said, my story isn’t anywhere close to the most miraculous I’ve heard from
Alison’s talismans. But it’s my story, so it’s the one I feel OK telling. If
you know other people who’ve used one ask them about them, or reach out and ask
Alison about them.

Or,
acquire one from her. Alison has recently started taking commissions for
talismans. Her work can be seen and she can be contacted via Facebook at: